Iraq’s Ayn Al-Asad Base Hosting US Troops Targeted By Katyusha Rockets

Five Katyusha rockets were fired at Ayn al-Asad military base, which hosts US and other international forces in Iraq’s western province of Anbar, late on Monday. 

A coalition source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said on Tuesday that the projectiles landed on the vicinity of the airbase, located about 160 kilometers (100 miles) west of the capital Baghdad, adding that the rocket attack caused no casualties. 

Sabereen News, a Telegram channel associated with Iraqi Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), claimed that six 122mm BM-21 Grad rockets had targeted Ayn al-Asad. An Iran-backed militia group that calls itself ‘The International Resistance’ has claimed responsibility for the attack. 

The base is the frequent target of Iran-backed proxy groups in the region. Late in April, it was targeted by three Grad missiles, which fell outside the base, without causing significant losses, and earlier in the month, two combat drones hit targets inside the air base, again without any casualties.

The base was also targeted by Iranian ballistic missiles in January 8 2020 in retaliation for the killing of Ghasem (Qassem) Soleimani the commander of Qods (Quds) force, a branch of the Revolutionary Guard (IRGC), who was killed in Baghdad by a targeted US drone attack on January 3, 2020.

The attacks came as nuclear talks in Vienna to revive the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers have paused, mainly over Iran’s demand to remove the IRGC from the US list of foreign terrorist organizations.